New York Mayor Adams and the Director of the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), Dan Garodnick, announced on June 3rd the implementation of the “Green Fast Track,” aimed at expediting the environmental review process for small to medium residential construction projects.
The “Green Fast Track” initiative streamlines the review process by cutting through red tape and simplifying environmental assessments, reducing the review timeline to two years. The city estimates that costs for each eligible housing project could be reduced by around $100,000.
In a statement, the Mayor highlighted the simple solution to alleviating the housing crisis for a generation – building more housing. The city is working to construct much-needed housing in a faster manner.
According to the Mayor’s office announcement, criteria for projects eligible for the “Green Fast Track” include: (1) housing projects with fewer than 250 or 175 units, depending on the zoning location; (2) must utilize all-electric heating; (3) not located in vulnerable coastal or industrially polluted areas and away from major roads; (4) compliant with environmental remediation standards for hazardous materials or high-noise zones; (5) projects exceeding 250 feet in height are disqualified; (6) if the project is adjacent to open spaces, natural resources, or areas of historical value, the height limit is 50 feet.
The announcement points out that the standard environmental review process can take several years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete. If the “Green Fast Track” had been in place for the past decade, approximately 12,000 new housing units could have been built faster and more efficiently. City planners and environmental experts analyzed over 1,000 environmental review cases from the past ten years and found that certain characteristics of housing projects do not have a negative impact on the environment.